Riveiro concerned with Pirates defending after Royal AM draw

Orlando Pirates coach Jose Riveiro has admitted that the Buccaneers were lucky to get a point against Royal AM in their DStv Premiership match at Orlando Stadium on Wednesday.

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Riveiro made seven changes to his starting line-up in the tie against Royal AM, starting with the likes of Makhehleni Makhaula, Fortune Makaringe, while giving 17-year-old attacker Relebohile Ratomo a debut in the senior team.

Bucs played well, as they managed to score first, but they ended up playing to a 1-1 draw after Thwihli Thwahla equalised in the dying minutes of the match.

“I think we started slow. And little by little (we started to be dangerous). With seven changes in the starting eleven, even with young and fresh players, we knew it was going to take some time to start pumping. It happened, but it is acceptable,” said the Pirates coach after the match.

“I think due to the approach of the opponents, we managed toplay in their half for a lot of time and create good opportunities to score. So,the first half we were totally under control, but the result was  unfair.”

The Buccaneers mentor believes his players gave out a good performance overall. However, he says it is in the last minutes of the game where they seemed to get things wrong, something that has happened in previous games.

“We put everything in in the second half in order to get a lead. It happened, we managed to be 1-0 up and did everything in order to not be in a situation we found ourselves in at the end. That was defending too close in the box in the last parts of the game. One cross and the opponents managed to put one ball on target, I think that’s the only one during the 90 minutes,” Riveiro added.

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“Its football, sometimes in other games we were close to dropping points in the last weeks, and we were a bit lucky sometimes in the last minutes. It’s football, I think we should have got three points.”

Pirates remain in second place in the league standings with 50 points after 28 games.